It Was Magically Not Troublesome
by theselfproclaimedgreatest7
Summary: In which Harriet ran from her own world that was threatening her and jumped to another. It was peaceful at first, until a certain little deer wandered too close to her territory with injured companions. And then made a really stupid deal. Not to mention she was obviously not from around there, so she covers her face. fem!Harry x Shikaku
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own anything from Naruto nor Harry Potter series.**

* * *

Harriet Lilian Potter never exactly knew when it all went really, _really_ wrong.

The war against Voldemort ended with them remaining victorious, though there were also casualties and lots of injuries and dead _deaddead_ people. Some of them were her friends and classmates.

 _On a rainy funeral with people mourning for their lost love ones and Harry trying so hard to stop the onslaught of tears threatening to fall as she, Hermione, and the rest of the Weasley family huddled together but that didn't really last long as Molly Weasley (poor_ poor _Molly)_ _cried her sorrow out at the loss of her child. Arthur who was trying to comfort his wife but never tried to stop the tears sliding down his face. Billy and Charlie held the family together in one big group hug as though to comfort their dear parents and siblings but they didn't look better themselves. Percy clenching his hands and looking down in guiltguiltguilt. Ginny sobbing and Ron hugging her to his side as himself, like his dad, didn't stop his tears from spilling._ _And then there's George_ ( _oh_ God _, George)_ _who lost an ear and had a blank look on his face as he stared blankly in front._ _The whole family was mourning._

But they had celebrated their victory, though a bit solemn. Finally, after years of long suffering, the times of the Dark Lord finally ended.

And it all was because of the bravery and courage, though a bit selfless, of one Harriet Lilian Potter who had been previously dubbed as "the girl who lived" to presently, "the girl who conquered". News had spread fast and people in the magic community did nothing but praise and thank her profusely. Of course, there were also stories of the Golden Trio and her closest friends, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley, were not excluded from reporters and visitors from people. Most of them were VIP people and the big shots.

Perhaps that was the time it all really went wrong.

* * *

Harriet panted as she ran as fast as she can from her pursuers. Not being able to apparate because _they_ would spot her immediately no matter where she went around the world. After all, the ministry was also at _his_ command and can detect her whenever she uses magic.

It was like at school all over again except that using magic now means being captured and there was absolutely low chance of escape if that were ever to happen.

Harriet tried to push down the feeling of being _betrayed_ by one of her closest, dear friend and comrade during the war and felt the sting in her eyes, warning her of the tears threatening to fall.

 _Why? Whywhywhywhywhy?_

 _How could this happen?_

Harriet knew the world was unfair but she had desperately hoped that things were settled now, and she can live her life a bit better without any evil people trying to harm her. She had believed that as she became an adult and trained to be an auror and _became_ an auror, learning the wonders and possible ways with runes and becoming a master with it. Everything was finally falling into place until—

The heroine felt her body collide with someone and suddenly she was pulled to a dark alleyway and she felt the panic bubbling in her throat but paused as she saw who had taken her.

It was a man, as it was obvious with the tall stature of the dark hooded person but that wasn't what made her pause. It was who the person was as poor Harriet recognized the ginger hair and the forever mischievous eyes of the older person even when he was frowning and she had almost slipped a different name from her mouth of a long dead person she had _dearly_ missed if she hadn't notice the lack of an ear on the person's left side.

"George?"

Said person 'shh'ed her and handed her something to which she recognized with a gasp.

"This is—!"

George had cut her off and pointed at the narrow road of the alleyway, obviously in a hurry. "Run as fast as you can and continue to do so. _Don't_ you ever stop or even look back until the portkey activates. It will any minute now.

"Hermione and Billy found a way for you to escape from this, this bloody _blasphemy_. It will send you to Japan."

Harriet had an alarmed look on her face.

"Billy have connections there and the magic community there have agreed to lend their aid. Harry," said nicknamed person had her breathe hitched because that was the nickname another person had given to her and it didn't help that the person looked a lot like the ginger haired in front of her. George seemed to notice the change in her expression because he winced at his slip. "sorry."

Harriet released a shuddering breathe. "N-no, it's okay."

"Harriet," he placed both hands on her shoulder. "After this, I may never see you again. So do the others."

"What?"

"The wizards and witches in Japan will explain more once you arrive there. They'll protect you from then on, they know what to do." George licked his lips, feeling it dry. "This is goodbye, from me and the rest of us."

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes and poor Harriet sobbed. "Ron... he *sob*"

"Listen Harry," this time, George didn't bother to correct himself. "Ron... he's not the person you used to know. That man is no friend of yours and he is no brother of mine. The Ron we know is gone."

George was right, Harriet knew. Ron was beyond saving now. But...

Harriet shut her eyes to let the tears fall and clenched her fists. "How could he do this?"

George gave her a sad smile, "Ron had always been greedy since he was small." He gently pushed her to the direction deeper in the alley. "Go. Don't stop running until it activates."

Harriet reached up and gently gave a peck to his cheek and gave him a smile, though it held anything but happiness. She turned and sprinted on her way. The sound of her footsteps disappearing.

George watched her disappear and sighed. Looking up to the sky, "If you were here Fred, you would have bullied Ron to bloody oblivion for this."

* * *

 **I kno** **w I should work on my other stories buuuuuut I can't get this out of my head omg. So this fic was inspired by Bubble Therapy and the other one was... I think Shadow of a Deer? I forgot. But yeah. I'm still not sure about this but after maybe the second or third chapter, I'll decide if I should continue this or nah. So I'll depend on your reviews.** **You can also write a review if you're confused about something, I'll PM you :) This is just a fanfic, so I'll add some things even though they're not part of both verse. Originally, this was actually a really long chapter but then when I reread it, it sounded kind of dull what with all the information going BAM BAM BAM and might just ruin the suspense, so I'll make it up on the next chapter.**

 **Btw, this is a Shikaku x fem!Harry crossover fanfic. It's not typical, I know BUT I honestly believe there should be more fanfics with Shikaku as main. He's kind of a really cool guy.**

 **Next chapter would be skipped to where Harriet is already transported to the Naruto world ;) guess which character she'll meet first.**

 **PS. I actually lost the draft of my other stories because my flashdrive in which I place my drafts in, broke... T.T I kind of got frustrated for a long time and all. Sorry. At this rate, I might abandon them because I don't know what to do with them anymore!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own anything from Naruto nor Harry Potter series.**

* * *

 _She had felt the shift as she was suddenly in a different place but her mind seemed to not register this fast enough as she was still running and felt hands stopping her._

 _"Whoa, there!"_

 _An unknown voice with a weird accent as if the person wasn't comfortable in using the language was what made her halt and looked up to see an obviously Asian man smiling down at her. "Easy there, woman."_

 _Harriet paused and a look of realization dawned on her. "Am I...in Japan?"_

 _"Right you are, missy."_

 _The person obviously wasn't used to the English language and Harriet mentally cringed at the horribly awkward effort of the person to sound natural. Right then, a woman, also Asian, appeared next to the man and pinched his side._

 _"Ittai!_ What the hell?"

"You were making a fool of yourself, dumbass _."_

 _Harriet obviously didn't understand a thing and decided to voice herself._

 _"Uhm..."_

 _The woman noticed and turned to smile at her. "Hi, you must be Harriet Lilian Potter."_

 _Harriet detected the same weird accent but it was better than the man's. "Yes."_

 _"My name is Yukki Rena and this is my older brother, Yukki Shima."_

 _The sibling were a wizard and witch. They had explained to her that it won't be long 'til Ron would find her after a few months. The information left a bitter taste in her mouth. So I can never get away, huh._

 _The woman_ _—Rena was her name, noticed and quickly assured her._

 _"Don't worry, we have a backup plan for that."_

 _Harriet looked at her quizzically, "How?"_

 _"You see, our country, Japan, is special in the magical aspect." she started. "Here, dimensional gates or walls are thin and we have access to some of them. In short, it's the perfect place for easy dimension hopping." She grinned and added, "Though, that's a secret to the rest of the world. Outside the country, only Hermione Granger and Bill Weasley knows about this, and now, you too."_

 _"So," Harriet looked at her, unsure. "I'll be dimension hopping?"_

 _This time, it was Shima who gave her a grin and the English woman was hit by how much the siblings look so much alike even when they have the opposite gender of each other. "Right you are!"_

 _"But first," Rena spoke again. "you'll be given lessons about the world you are going to be sent_ _—and yes, a dimension is already picked for you."_

 _The Yukki siblings didn't waste any time after explaining to her the basics and ushered her to where she can stay for a few months. There were a lot of things she had to learn in such a short amount of time and the siblings wished silently that Harriet was a fast learner._

* * *

 _*present*_

Harriet blinked and promptly sat up from her magic made bed. She had dreamed about something, but what was it?

Concentrating, she closed her eyes firmly and let her magic do the work in searching the dream she saw in her mind. She found it not too long after, but it was incomplete. Dreams can hardly be remembered, after all.

 _A young boy wearing a short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves. He was wearing silver hoop earrings._

 _Spiky, pineapple like black hair._

 _"Please save him!"_

 _Determined eyes that almost took her aback._

She opened her eyes quickly. Sweat was forming on the side of her forehead. What was that all about? It was like experiencing a memory but it felt a bit different. Premonition?

It was the only logical conclusion, really.

She sighed. If it was going to happen, then she'll just let it be and get over it. Besides, her daily routine was getting a bit too boring.

She was sewing in the living room when it happened. She had been reminiscing and recalling on how many days she was in the dimension she was in, maybe 4 months? Man, it felt longer than it actually was.

When she arrived, she had wandered for a short while, a bit of excitement hitting her as she felt her inner adventurous self jumping up and down. It was fascinating at first. There were just so many _trees_. And she could _actually feel_ the nature thrumming under her feet, perks of being magic. Along the way, she met villagers in different areas and the occasional shinobis passing by.

 _Shinobi_.

She had learned about them in one of her short lessons in Japan. If her world had magic as something special, then this one had chakra. Chakra is what made this dimension go on living, and can also be enhanced to do _dangerous_ things. That's where the shinobis come in. They're basically the army or the military like back at home.

Anyways, Harriet soon grew tired of wandering and wanted to settle down, even just for a while. Merlin knows how her life can be relatively boring from now on with no job to do or better yet, no evil magic-crazed maniacs chasing her for her death. She had made (not built) a one story house, with the help of magic of course (she made it look homey, just like how the Burrow had felt homey), on the hillside where on the other side is a small village. She occasionally go there to buy food and things, but the first few times she went, she kinda caught most of the villagers' attention. She heard murmurs and then realized that it was her features that caught their attention. From then on, she looked for a way to cover her face. The English woman was paranoid enough to be wary of shinobis being suspicious of her, she definitely didn't want any of their attention. She wore a cloth covering her face that only reveals her eyes and had a string to tie around at the back of her head and did a little magic to the villagers memories so they won't exactly remember her face, they'll only remember her face fogged if they do try to remember. Other than that, the villagers are generally kind to her and very friendly, like the old man who sell fishes his son caught and the nice middle-age lady who owns a small bakery.

Back to reality, Harriet accidentally nipped her left hand with the needle and bright red blood oozed from her fingertip. However, she ignored it as she stood up abruptly, making the wooden chair she was sitting on clatter to the ground.

When the woman made her house, isolation was not enough, she had to make it secure. So, she had set up a barrier around it so random people, especially shinobi, won't be able to find the building nor touch it. Instead, they'll only see a clearing. But now—

 _Someone broke through her runes barrier._

* * *

Naruto's genin team wasn't the only one who got unlucky in their first C-rank mission. Oh, how much Shikamaru wanted to voice out the word troublesome. It was only supposed to be a simple delivery mission.

It all started when they arrived at the small village to deliver some herbs that can only be found in Konoha to some old lady that makes civilian medicines, she was nice enough to serve them some snacks and drinks. They had successfully delivered until Ino just _had_ to get distracted at some flower she had never seen before even in books. Shikamaru was sharp enough to know that the Yamanaka practically knew every flower as her father had driven it in her head. And he had warned her, silly girl.

It turned out that it was some rogue nin from Iwa in a henge that just _had_ to have a grudge towards the Sarutobi clan. He had gone on and on about how his ancestors had a not so nice conflict with the Hokage's clan, which was honestly just plain stupid in Shikamaru's opinion. Why does it matter anyway? They were long dead. The rogue nin then went on how he it was his lucky day to stumble over Sarutobi Asuma, who was the son of the Hokage no less.

Shikamaru won't lie. He knew Asuma-sensei was strong enough to defeat a simple minded rogue nin. But things went downhill when he started to feel weak and a bit numb. Judging from his teammates' reactions, he wasn't the only one.

 _Poison? But when did he—?_

"Oh? Are you starting to feel it now? Kifufufu," kami, he had one weird laugh. "Since you stepped in the village, I've been following you. And when I saw the perfect moment where your guards were low, I took the opportunity, kifufufuf."

The Nara heir was hit by realization when he remembered the nice old lady giving them drinks. No wonder it tasted weird. He had thought it was because it was a herbal drink like the old lady had explained it was. The rogue nin must have poisoned them while she was preparing the drinks.

"How lucky I am~ kifufufuf. To even be able to kɩll the Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi heirs in one go. This is more then hitting two birds with one stone!"

That must have made Asuma snap as he swiftly slashed his head off, but he was a bit slower than he would have liked to as he was equally stabbed in the shoulder.

"Ugh!"

The stupid rogue nin dropped down, lifeless as his blood oozed out rapidly. Asuma knelt down with a bit of difficulty and patted over the corpse, like he was searching for something. Chouji looked worse out of the three of them, Shikamaru wasn't sure if it was because of the poison really taking a toll on him or because he witnessed a bloody death for the first time. The jounin held up three vials after a few moments. _Antid_ _otes._

"Drink this, each of you."

Ino immediately protested. "But, Asuma-sensei!"

"I can hold myself up, I've been through worse poisons." Well, that wasn't really reassuring considering that there's a kunai lodged deep in the man's shoulder. Yet wordlessly, Shikamaru drank one of the vials.

"Just do it, Ino." he grumbled weakly.

Reluctant, Ino drank hers and Chouji did the same with his. "Bleh! Gross."

After a few minutes, they felt the poison's effects wearing off. At the same time, Asuma slumped over by one of the trees, breathing heavily.

"Asuma-sensei!"

"I'm fine..."

"No, you're not." Shikamaru told him. Chouji turned to him, like he always did when they were still in the Academy whenever there was a problem.

"What do we do?" he asked.

Sighing, he mumbled out, "we could carry him."

The village was on the other side of the hill and he honestly have no idea how to carry an injured jounin without worsening his condition. They were still genin, basically babies so it was clear that they would be incapable in carrying a fully grown and trained man. They could walk, but that would probably take too long. Not to mention, he was poisoned.

Shikamaru crouched down and put his hands together in his thinking sign.

.

.

.

What was that?

It feels like something was calling and beckoning him over. Shikamaru opened his eyes and went around the tree Asuma was slumped over and blinked after he passed though some bushes.

Had the homey looking house always been there?

* * *

 **Ta da! Chapter 2! I admit, this one's also a bit shorter than what I was aiming for, but I guess it's better than the first chap...? I have plans for the next update, don't worry ;). Anyways! I'm overwhelmed by all the follows and favorites! I didn't expect this T.T. Then there're the reviews! Such kind words from all of you T^T I know I'm a bit imperfect and I do make mistakes in writing xD I'm honestly relieved that some were pointing out my mistakes haha. If you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me :) I'll definitely appreciate it because it can help me improve ya know...**

 **Also, if you have some ideas or suggestions that you think can be good for what will happen next, please tell me! I already have the plot all planned out but I can add some things that can be good! Even if it's just a small filler :) it can also be for humor and stuff.**

 **P.S. I'm busy most of the time everyday and I can only work on my drafts for 2-3 hours at most so update will be weekly at the least :'(**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own anything from Naruto nor Harry Potter series.**

* * *

Harriet panicked for a moment before she shakily breathed in and out. _Be calm, then think._

This never happened before. Harriet was a rune master for Merlin's sake, she was one of the top in her batch of Aurors. She had even far exceeded Hermione and the brunette's expectations of her when it only took almost a year for the heroine to be a rune master, and there was a good explanation for that. Every wizard and witch that Harriet had encountered, be it a friend or foe, not one of them had succeeded in breaking through her special runes. In fact, this was the first.

 _Could it be...?_

Harriet apparated outside her magic-made home, startling the three trespassers when she appeared in front of them. By now, she had covered half of her face with the usual black cloth that she makes sure to use whenever she encounters someone in this dimension.

"Gyah!"

"I knew it," she muttered. _Shinobi_ , Harriet thought as she saw a glimpse of a forehead protector with the symbol of the Hidden Leaf village. She had never thought the possibility to use fuinjutsu against her runes, this only increases the likelihood. She assessed the ninjas as one of them, a pretty blonde girl with an equally pretty hair, readied a stance that showed that she was on guard. Two boys, who looked like they were carrying something together, took a step back, ready to flee if necessary. Wait a minute...

The English woman blinked as she looked them over once more. These were kids. Maybe at ages 12-13. She knew how young a shinobi can be, but this was the first time she met one. She would have never thought that these children were killers.

Ino felt sweat forming on the side of her head. This is bad. Gritting her teeth, she demanded, "Who are you?"

"I should be asking you that," Harriet replied bluntly, "considering you are the ones who are trespassing in my home."

"Which village are you from?"

"I don't belong to any village, kid."

"Are you a missing-nin?" This time, it was one of the boys who spoke. One with spiky black hair and had silver hoop earrings...hold on, that sounded kind of a lot like the boy in her dreams, or rather it was a premonition after all. Harriet mentally snorted, so it was these kids? Well, maybe she'll entertain them for a bit.

"I'm not a ninja, nor have I ever been in training to be one."

Shikamaru was confused, but still kept his guard up. "You just used the Body Flicker Technique. I think that implies that you know well how to use your chakra like a ninja."

Even with a wide knowledge about ninjas, Harriet doesn't know a single thing about ninjutsus and what-not, she only knows that they use chakra to execute such techniques.

"I don't know what that is but I assure you that it wasn't a jutsu, I don't even use chakra." I don't even have chakra. Harriet mentally added.

"Then what are you?" Ino asked. She was still holding her kunai.

Harriet sighed. "I'm supposed to be the one who asks questions here 'cause, again, you're in my property and you're trespassing." She couldn't really call it her property because she just found the spot and settled there, but she would like to think that it was. "What are you doing here, kid?"

"We're not kids!" Choji blurted out, face a bit red. This weird woman was looking down at them for a while now. "We're ninjas."

Harriet raised a brow and replied, "Could've fooled me. I thought you were just some wannabe." It was clear to Shikamaru that she was taunting them, but she also held no ill intent towards them.

"We're seeking for shelter," the Nara heir started, voice firm. "We thought that you could maybe help us." He ignored his teammates outbursts. Right now, Asuma-sensei is seriously wounded and even though they removed the kunai and had bandaged the man, the poison was affecting him more and more.

"Shelter," the woman with her face covered drawled out the word. "I thought ninjas were supposed to be trained in survival. Surely, you can camp out in the woods. I guess you're a fake after all."

Choji's face turned red even more.

"Our jounin sensei," Shikamaru licked his lips. It was dry. "We were attacked and now our jounin sensei is poisoned and injured."

Oh.

Harriet had honestly thought that they were just carrying a large bag. Turns out it was a man. Damn, she was goofing off for too long that her observation skills were getting a bit too rusty.

Constant vigilance, Harriet.

"And why would I help you? Also—I can't believe I'm only asking this now—how did you break through the barrier?"

Shikamaru ignored the first question and was confused at the second one, what did she mean by barrier? Harriet saw this and contemplated for a moment.

 _Not fuinjutsu, then. I guess there was a loophole._ She mentally set a reminder to check her runes.

"Never mind. I guess I could let you in my home, but I would have to ask..." Harriet scanned the injured man slumped on both boys' shoulders. "Considering your sensei is poisoned, I doubt you would know how to cure him with only a roof over your heads. How will you save him?"

Ino and Choji hesitantly glanced at Shikamaru. Despite him being naturally lazy, he was the brains in the team. If Asuma was rendered incapable in leading them, he comes in second. It wasn't surprising considering he was a Nara. They had full trust in him. So when Shikamaru lead them to a stranger's house, they had thought he had a plan. He always did.

Except he didn't, right now. And that's unexpected coming for him. He always seemed to had all the pieces laid out in front of him and planning ways ahead.

Gritting his teeth, Shikamaru didn't answer.

 _Goddammit! What was wrong with him?_

The woman in front of them hummed. Then it looked like she was smiling at them under the cloth. "Don't worry. I'm not a horrible person as to let someone die in my front lawn. Despite that I'm not a shinobi, I can be a healer." She held out her hand. "This is to save you the trouble in carrying him, so hold my hand, all of you."

No one made a move. But Shikamaru's instincts were practically screaming at him to just hurry and do as she says or else—!

Asuma-sensei would die.

Licking his lips, the Nara heir asked, "What's you're name?"

Harriet didn't take her hand back when she replied, "I think it's rude to ask a person's name without telling their's first."

 _I would want to know the person's name who'll kill us if this is all a trap._ Was what Shikamaru mentally replied, but didn't voice it out. And like she had read his mind, she grinned under her face cloth at him and told them her name otherwise.

"You can call me Hari."

He dearly hoped the woman—Hari— knew how to cure poisons, they didn't even know at what extent the poison will affect their teacher. Will he die any minute now? Will his organs fail one by one? Will his blood reject his body and react violently and harm him from the inside? Shikamaru doesn't know. And a Nara who doesn't know is a vulnerable Nara. He was turning desperate.

So, he neared her, Choji following him as they were carrying the same source of weight and they all held her hand. Both boys shifted and took an unconscious Asuma's hand to let it touch her.

All of them were definitely not prepared at the sudden shift they felt like they were sucked in by an unknown force and suddenly, they were in the house. Shikamaru almost lurched and felt like puking. Kami, that was one of the most gross feeling he felt and judging by his teammates' reactions, he wasn't the only one.

"What was that?"

Because Shikamaru hadn't felt any chakra shifting and even without being chakra sensitive, he should have felt something. Teleport? There was no such thing. The one closest to the meaning would be the Body Flicker Technique that was acquainted by fast movements, most would be using a little bit of chakra to execute it.

With a twinkle in her eye, like how the Weasley twins back in her world would twinkle when they were amused or up to something, Hari answered, "Magic."

* * *

"So, uhm," Ino shifted on the couch which, mind you, wasn't always there, but the three little ninjas didn't need to know that. "Hari-san, what exactly _are_ you?"

"Magic," Hari simply said.

Ino made a face behind her, obviously not believing her and thought that the woman was just screwing with them. After a few minutes of debating against Shikamaru, _that stupid lazy bum_ , Ino reluctantly let Hari take their sensei to a bed and the woman proceeded to go to the kitchen and rummage in the cupboard, humming along the way.

This woman was weird. For one, she's wearing a small cloth over her face. Two, she liked to play the mysterious card. Three, she doesn't seem to live with anyone, even though the house looked homey enough to at least have a partner with her.

Why would Shikamaru ever trust this possibly mental woman? What if she was some trigger-happy murderer and that's why she lives isolated from the nearby village.

" _You guys believe in me since we were small, and nothing has ever gone wrong, so trust me in this. If she ever turns out like what you think she is, then I'll take full responsibility._ " Well, how can he ever take responsibility if they all end up dead? Ino had retorted at him but she didn't mean to make him snap at her.

 _"You're the one who got us attacked in the first place. So don't act like you did nothing wrong_."

That had been a low blow.

So Ino proceeded to sulk on the couch and Shikamaru left to Hari's backyard, with Choji right after him.

 _As always._ Ino bitterly thought.

Hari seemed to found what she was looking for as she had finished rummaging through the cupboard and was holding a small jar in her right hand when she turned to face Ino.

"You guys got into a fight or something?" Hari asked, with a brow raising in question.

Ino huffed. "He's just being so stupid." On the inside, she was hurt by her teammate's words but her pride was much important.

The woman hummed. "Well, I hardly think he can be so. From what I can tell, he's smart for his age." She could see it in his eyes, after all, which twinkles with immense knowledge.

Ino visibly sulked. "He always is, it runs in his family. I mean, I can't blame him for blaming me for getting Asuma-sensei hurt. But he wouldn't normally snap at me," Ino complained weakly. "He's just being a bit moody because auntie left him."

Hari was amused. Man, these kids were acting like middle school kids. It was hard to think so with the visible weapons on them.

"Auntie?"

"His mom," Ino replied. "She was nice, but she didn't exactly love him or his father. It was only an arranged marriage and even through the years, she couldn't come to love them, especially his father. So when Shikamaru turned genin a month ago, she left."

So when Shikamaru's mother was tied in marriage, she couldn't leave until he was labeled an adult, a genin, because genins are considered adults in this world. Hari mentally summed up in her head.

"Must have been hard for him."

Ino looked down at her lap awkwardly. "Y-yeah..." Looking up, she spotted the jar on Hari's hand. "What's that for?"

"This," Hari held it up to emphasize. "Is going to get your sensei cured."

Ino deadpanned, "It's empty," Seriously, this woman.

Even though with her face covered from the nose down, Ino was sure that Hari was smiling at her in amusement. "It's magic, dear."

Ino groaned. Seriously, why was she alone in the house with this woman? Guilt be damned, she was going to get Shikamaru an earful for making her deal with Hari.

* * *

 _Oh, dear lord_ —

Ino openly gaped at the light green liquid pouring down from what she thought to be an empty jar.

"How—what—?"

Hari calmly put the jar on the nightstand beside the bed where an unconscious Asuma was lying down. His sweaty face was turning pale and his veins bulged out in purple color. His shirt was taken off to properly adjust the bandages on his shoulder. She had poured down a small amount in a small flask so she could make Asuma drink it easily.

Ino took the jar and looked inside, shaking it lightly a few times. "Don't spill it," she heard Hari say and stopped shaking the small clear jar. It also felt light in her hands, like there was no invisible liquid inside it.

"There's nothing inside!"

Hari pulled Asuma's upper body up and put a pillow under his shoulders, and proceeded to tip the flask over his mouth. Without pausing, she replied. "Of course there is. Like I keep telling you, it's magic."

That doesn't explain anything at all!

When Hari was finished, she sat the now empty flask on the nightstand beside the jar. Warily, Ino asked, "You didn't poison him, did you?"

Hari snorted, "He's already poisoned. I wouldn't need to do that if I wanted him dead. It's a potion I made a few weeks ago that cures like an antidote on any poison. It basically just fights off the foreign harmful substance in his body, plus it'll heal his injury overnight. He'll wake up after a few hours or so."

Ino perked up, "Potion? Are you a witch by any chance?"

Hari froze for a moment. She knew the younger girl was referring to their own world's version of witch, which was just similar to a quack doctor, really, but she couldn't help it because it reminded her of home. It reminded her of Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Cho, Molly—.

She stopped there. And remembered that Ino was still there with her and Hari smiled mirthlessly. Six months ago she would have answered that yes, she was. But now...

"No, I'm not."

"Oh..."

Clearing her throat, Hari changed the topic. "It's nearing sundown, would you like to help make dinner?"

Ino nodded and followed the woman to the kitchen.

 _Harriet Potter was a fast learner, a very fast learner. Time had passed rather quickly and Harriet had honestly enjoyed her stay. All of the people she had met were all so kind to her that it touched her heart that such strangers are sincerely willing to help her. They were so serious in their duties, even the Yukki siblings, that the English woman had suspected something, so she asked Shima._

 _"Huh? Don't tell me you don't know?"_

 _They were speaking in Japanese now that Harriet got the hang of using the language rather quickly._

 _Harriet looked at him, confused._

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _Harriet almost jumped when Shima suddenly laughed in disbelief. "You seriously don't know." He stopped and continued, "I could tell you myself right now but I think it's best if Rena does the explaining because I'm seriously bad at that."_

 _He smirked at her._

 _A streak of confusion passed and time seemed to stop as Rena sat her down and did so in front of her. With a soothing voice, she spoke slowly, as if trying to calm her before dropping a bucket load of ice on top of her. Words seemed to muffle out. Disbelief was what Harriet felt as Rena told her a story of a long, long, long time ago._

 _"You're special, Harriet."_

 _You're more than you think you are._

* * *

 **AND THAT'S CHAPTER 3 PPL! Wew! I have to honestly tell you that I only started working on this 2 days ago. I read a review that left me contemplating if I should change the plot I originally planned out or not. Decisions, decisions. Then I decided to "ah, fuck it, let's just see where it goes on it's own" Also, I'm sorry if didn't reply to some questions T.T there're just too may of you. But I promise I read it all while I was at school this week.**

 **From the positive reviews, I decided to continue this fanfic after all 3 so expect a 4th chapter next week or so hihi.**

 **P.S. I noticed that some fanfictions include a disclaimer every chapter... should I be doing it too? I mean, it's just a concern of mine but why would I disclaim anything when I'm just writing a fanfiction of an original story/anime? :/ Isn't it already obvious that I don't own any from Naruto and Harry Potter? Again, just a concern of mine :) because for all I know, it is required.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own any from Naruto nor Harry Potter.**

Shikamaru calmly watched the ever so drifting and aloof clouds pass. It was a hobby of his. It helped clear his mind as his ever so genius brain wouldn't let his cognitive demands a second's rest. He didn't mind Choji's presence beside him, at least it usually didn't, but his friend's shuffling and fidgeting was distracting him. He wanted to snap but he knew he wasn't the kind to do so. He grumbled instead.

"What is it, Choji?"

"Uh, uhm...don't you think you were a little harsh with Ino?"

The Nara heir sighed. He knew he was a bit harsh with his female teammate, but in his defense, she was being whiny and it irritated him considering that they were in a dire situation what with Asuma and all. He was not in any mood for shits at all from the very start, even though it was their first C-rank mission. Hell, he wasn't in any mood for _months_ , not even a single shogi game with his father. But nonetheless, he knew he had hurt Ino's feelings. Despite how troublesome, she was still his friend. Albeit an annoying one and had always been since they were in their diapers.

What a drag.

Shikamaru sighed, "She'll get over it."

.

No, she fucking didn't get over it.

His eyes twitched in held back annoyance as Ino, who sat directly on the opposite side of him at the dining table, "hmph"-ed.

Troublesome girl.

He wasn't in the mood so he just avoided eye contact with her and picked his food.

At the head of the table, Hari sat down after serving all the food and spoke with much enthusiasm, well, as much enthusiasm from what Shikamaru observed by the sound of her voice and eye smile. "Ino helped me with cooking, she says you often like to eat with miso soup so I made a little, and that Choji likes anything with meat."

Shikamaru made a visible twitch. His female teammate helped? That can't be good…

Eyes squinting, he briefly and none too discreetly sniffed at the food. "It smells like it's edible…" She might or might not have added any too much spice just to get revenge. He can't tell. He's not an Inuzuka after all.

"What did you say?!"

He must have spoken a bit too loud as Ino looked like her head's about to explode and just about ready to bury him to the ground as she made a fist in a threatening way. He sat upright, leaning away from the table in reflex when the blonde girl abruptly took his plate away.

"Bakamaru! You can starve for all I care!"

Ino suddenly stopped the moment she turned her back to him and he was slightly afraid that she was considering on dumping it to his face or the sort. She seemed angry enough to do so. To his surprise, his plate was returned to him with a gentle _clack_ on the table.

Hari spoke then in a cheerful tone, "Oh, Ino dear. It would be such a waste if you just threw it out, right? You made an effort in making Shikamaru's food after all." She placed her right palm to the side of her face in a mock worry manner. "You said you wanted to make them yourself so you can properly apologize to Shikamaru."

To said boy's intrigue, his blonde teammate's face was red and was in a stuttering mess after she sat back down on her chair, which was a bit in a robotic way to Shikamaru's opinion. She pointed at Hari in an accusing manner. "Y-you-you-you-!"

Hari innocently made a questioning face. "Hmm?"

Ino broke out of her stuttering. "How did you do that?!"

"Did what?"

"Don't play with me woman, you used another of your freaky things again, on me!"

Hari continued to play innocent. "Oh, Ino, I think the hunger's getting to you. I think we should eat now, considering you also had a rather long day."

On cue, a loud rumbling sound cuts in.

Shikamaru and Hari looked at the blonde kunoichi who in turn was a blushing tomato, and proclaimed, "That wasn't me,"

Beside the Nara heir, Choji, who stayed silent all this time shyly fidgeted in his seat.

"S-sorry. I'm just getting hungry."

Honestly, Hari was just amused with the bunch.

* * *

The moment Asuma was drifting to consciousness, he brought his guard up in reflex and scanned the area he was in with his chakra like his body was on autopilot, which was a result from years of training as a shinobi. He sensed his genin students nearby on the other side of the house he was in.

He pinpointed Shikamaru, Ino, Choji and another person he wasn't familiar with. His suspiciousness heightened when he felt the last one's signature. The stranger's chakra signature was a bit weird and felt too foreign in a sense that they lack the kind of signature characteristic that the people of the Land of Fire have in common. He relaxed a bit when he felt that his genin students' signatures were relaxed, it seemed that they were eating. How long was he out?

The jonin opened his eyes and sat up with a grunt. He subconsciously reached for his shoulder where he felt the bandages wrapped professionally. It seemed that his injuries were treated, possibly with the help of the stranger.

 _But what about poison earlier?_

He vividly remembered the pain and weakness he felt earlier that worsened after he gave all the antidote to his students. There wasn't enough for him, he made sure he checked the damned missing-nin's body thoroughly. Either Shikamaru's quick thinking found a way or it was because of the help of the stranger yet again. Nonetheless right now, he's sure the poison was out of his system.

He removed the blanket over him and stood. He found his shirt and vest on the chair by the nightstand and took the former of the two and dressed, forgoing the latter. Making his way out of the room he was in, he heard voices that was becoming clearer as he turned around a corner on his way to the dining room.

"What's the empty plate for, Hari-san?" That was Choji.

Asuma heard a woman's voice in reply to the Akimichi heir's question. "Oh, it's for your other companion, it's about time he's woken up by now."

On cue, Asuma showed himself by the doorway.

It was Ino who beamed at him first. "Asuma-sensei! You're all better now." On the chair opposite of her, Shikamaru just lazily scanned his body all over and internally sighed in relief when he saw that the other was in better condition now compared to earlier. Choji perked up at his presence and said, "You must be hungry, sensei. Hari-san made some food for you."

At the mention of the unfamiliar name, Asuma's eyes wandered to the woman who stood with a plate of hot serving of food in her hands. She was a bit peculiar, in his opinion. The woman had a long and beautiful hair that reminds him of Ino's except that it was black and a square-shaped black cloth was over her lower face and was tied with a string of cloth to the back of her head, revealing only her green eyes that added to her uniqueness in appearance. She wore only a simple mint colored yukata with a red obi tied around her slim waist.

Despite with the cloth over her lower face, Asuma knew she was smiling at him. "Nice to meet you, Asuma-san. You can call me Hari."

"Likewise," as a trained jonin, he knew it was not her real name but he sensed no threat from her so he didn't push her.

Ino added. "We found her house earlier after you passed out and she helped us and healed you."

Asuma narrowed his eyes. She cured him from the poison? How would she know the formula to the antidote? Was she a comrade of the missing-nin? Even if that's not the case, she's no ordinary citizen. He internally set a reminder to himself to interrogate the mysterious woman. Who knows, she could be dangerous and planning something. This didn't go unnoticed by Shikamaru.

"Ah, is that so? Then I thank you for your help. How much should we pay you?"

The woman just waved his offer off with an eye smile. "Oh, you don't need to bother. I wouldn't leave an injured person when I know that I can help, that includes shinobi."

"You're too kind. May I ask, how did you cure me from the poison?"

He blinked in confusion when Ino groaned on her chair. His instincts were telling him that the "Hari-san" woman was giggling internally at Ino's reaction.

"Why, the answer's 'magic', Asuma-san."

* * *

Asuma was equally not convinced that it was magic but after a few happenings during dinner like when he was about to ask for a spoon for the soup, it 'magically' appeared on the side of his plate. Also, after they were all done eating, the utensils were floating to the sink and started to wash themselves before anyone was about to offer to help with the dishes.

The boys jolted in slight surprise too before realizing something and relaxed, while Ino didn't bat an eye.

Well, that's useful.

"I know that you're shinobi and can handle themselves," Hari started. "But I won't be able to sleep peacefully knowing that kids their age will camp out in the dark of the night in the forest. Besides, you're still recovering, Asuma-san. You guys should stay for the night."

Asuma taught for a moment. He had forgone the thought of Hari being a threat. He trusted his instincts enough to know if he should be aware of an individual or not, so he nodded.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Hari-san."

She gave them an eye smile, "It's no problem."

Later that night, when the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were settled to guest bedrooms that they were all sure weren't there earlier, Hari did not sleep. Instead, she sat on her sofa, knitting.

Naturally, Asuma also couldn't sleep considering that he had slept earlier, so he sneaked a little at the woman in the living room curiously. Her back was turned.

"How about sitting on the couch, Asuma-san? Surely, just standing there can't be the most comfortable thing to do."

Slightly surprised that she knew he was there, the jonin took strides to the couch and sat there, facing the woman.

"Are you wary of me?" There was no smile on her face, just her eyes showing wonder.

Asuma answered honestly. "A bit. You're not exactly an ordinary person, but I trust you enough that you won't hurt my genin students. It seems to me that you're compassionate to the young."

"How about you, aren't you worried I might be plotting to kill you?"

He paused for a moment before answering, "No. You don't seem to have the intent. Besides, if you were, you wouldn't have cured me from the poison."

Relief was evident in her actions. "I'm glad."

"But of course, I will include in my report about you."

Hari sighed in exasperation. "I'm not looking for trouble."

Asuma's lips quirked to the side. "I know you don't. But I'm a valuable and well-known jonin of Konoha, former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja to the Fire Daimyo, and the son of the current Hokage. You did not only lend an aide to my genin students who are the heirs of their respected clans but also cured me from a poison that would have killed me. Surely, considering that you declined my offer, that my village will award you in some way."

"Ugh, just hearing it from you sounds like a hassle." Hari groaned. "Alright, I'll accept your offer _but_ I will be the one to choose what kind of payment."

Asuma shrugged. "Alright,"

"Don't include anything about me in your report."

The jonin made a deadpanned face.

"You have to understand, Asuma-san. I can't have people know of my existence."

Asuma sighed. "Okay, that's a deal. But I still owe you."

"I should tell you, that I move from place to place." Asuma just stared at her with an expression that clearly says in sarcasm, _'really'._

Hari smiled. "But don't worry, I'm sure we'll meet again."

"Oh yeah? And how, pray tell, would you know?"

She grinned. "Magic,"

Asuma left then after Hari had kept pestering him that he should sleep now. She sighed when a different presence still didn't leave after Asuma had left. She knew that the boy was eavesdropping and Asuma probably knew too, but didn't voice it out.

"Shikamaru?"

Said boy revealed himself by the doorway, there was reluctance on his face.

Hari smiled at him gently, even though it wasn't seen, Shikamaru knew she was. "Do you need something?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, even he could make the action look lazy. "I wanted to thank you for helping us..."

"Is that the reason you were eavesdropping earlier?"

"...no." Hari quirked her eyebrow. "Asuma-sensei was suspicious of you earlier, and I got curious on what he would do to you if..."

The woman giggled. "Were you concerned, Shikamaru?"

Lying was troublesome so he answered honestly. "A bit. I was the one who asked for your help in the first place, anyway. I feel like I'd hate it if Asuma-sensei decides to regard you as a threat when you went through the trouble of curing him."

"Is that all?" she asked.

"Uhm, I wish to repay you in some way."

"There's no need to."

"It's troublesome going on with my life knowing I owe a random 'magical' woman for the rest of my life." he sighed.

She smiled. "You can repay me when you're older, Shikamaru. Let's see, hmm, when you at least reach the same rank as Asuma's."

Shikamaru looked at her for a few seconds and Hari was waiting for him to object. "...will we really be able to meet again?"

"Of course, that for sure I know." Hari stood up and put her unfinished knitting on the sofa she previously occupied. "I'm in the mood for a hot chocolate milk, would you like some?"

She looked at him expectantly and Shikamaru averted his eyes. "No, I'm sleepy."

"Suit yourself."

After the boy left, Hari was in deep taught as she held a mug of hot chocolate drink that appeared in her hands.

 _Of course, I know for sure because..._

She closed her eyes and let her mind wander to the memory of what she saw in her premonition earlier. There was an older but still a teenage Shikamaru. Tired, panting, desperate.

 _"Please save him!"_

It hasn't happened yet.

* * *

 **I'm so sorrrrryyyyy! The update's late, I know T^T. I had to get my laptop fixed for a while and then bought a new charger for it because the original was broken. Not to mention, the finals are coming! The stress! Oh no! T^T. To compensate, here's an omake.**

 **PS. Sorry for any errors.**

* * *

Omake:

At the mention of the unfamiliar name, Asuma's eyes wandered to the woman who stood with a plate of hot serving of food in her hands. She was a bit peculiar, in his opinion. The woman had a long and beautiful hair that reminds him of Ino's except that it was black and a square-shaped black cloth was over her lower face and was tied with a string of cloth to the back of her head, revealing only her green eyes that added to her uniqueness in appearance. She wore only a simple mint colored yukata with a red obi tied around her slim waist.

Despite with the cloth over her lower face, Asuma knew she was smiling at him. "Nice to meet you, Asuma-san. You can call me Hari."

"Likewise," he still scanned her, searching for anything that may indicate that she was a threat, like if there were any weapons on her.

He was startled when Ino let out a gasp that sounded like she just saw something very scandalous and he whipped his head to her direction.

She was looking at him with a horrified expression with a mix of disbelief and betrayal. What?

"Asuma-sensei… you…you! You're checking Hari-san out!"

 _What?_

The jonin just looked at her, dumbfounded.

"Asuma-sensei…what about Kurenai-sensei?" Oh _no_ , Choji. Not you too.

Beside the Akimichi, the Nara genius clicked his tongue in disappointment. "How can you do something so troublesome, sensei."

What in the world…

"I'm telling Kurenai-sensei on you!" Ino shrieked.

"Huh? What? Wait, no!"

In the midst of the sudden commotion, Hari just laughed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own any from Naruto nor Harry Potter.**

* * *

The moment they stepped in the grounds of Konoha, Shikamaru wasn't surprised when Asuma instructed them to keep quiet about their encounter with the woman named Hari before he left to the tower to submit their mission report. He had eavesdropped, after all.

No one questioned nor protested at the order, and it surprised Shikamaru. He had thought that Ino would have at the least commented at the clearly "against the rules" order.

"Well, I'll be going home now, to save my mom from being driven to insanity because of dad. You know him," Ino shrugged at the mention of her father.

Shikamaru nodded at her, he had known since he was little that the Yamanaka clan head _adored_ his beautiful, sweet, daughter to the fullest. Knowing him, he must be wailing at home or at work where his poor co-workers would have to endure the respected man's rambling/wailing/sobbing to express that he was missing and worried sick of his daughter as she was outside the village and imagined the worst case scenario to happen during their mission. "Have some faith in Asuma will ya?" The Nara clan head would mutter as he tried to block out the Yamanaka's rambling during one of their leisure meetings.

"I'll be going now too, I miss mom's cooking." Chouji grinned. "Would you like to come along, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru mentally mapped out what would happen if he would go or not. If he doesn't come along with Chouji, he won't be in any mood to cloud watch just after arriving at the village and even if goes straight to home, there would be no one there, except maybe Nana-san who is an old Nara lady that takes care of the house once in a while since there was no matriarch to handle it.

"Yeah," sticking his hands in his pockets, Shikamaru walked by Chouji's side as they made their way to the Akimichi heir's home.

.

Asuma knocked on the door that leads to the Hokage's office and went in after he heard the muffled "come in".

He saw that Shikamaru's father, Shikaku, was there standing by the side of the Hokage's desk. He had bags under his eyes which was usual for a Nara but the clan head had his brows furrowed that indicated that he was mildly stressed.

"Report."

"Team 10 successfully completed the mission. The receiver of the delivery offered us tea to which we accepted. Unfortunately, a rogue-nin from Iwa who had a deep grudge against the Sarutobi clan spotted us and proceeded to lace the tea with poison without us noticing. On the way back, he ambushed us and by that time, the poison had taken affect in our bodies. I quickly ended him but as I had sliced his neck, he buried a kunai in my shoulder. I proceeded to check for antidotes in his possession and found enough for the team. We were late in arriving to Konoha as I was in no condition to travel and I had lost too much blood. We returned to the village as it was the nearest and stayed in an inn overnight."

"Hmm," the Hokage crossed his hands. "First of all, I thank you for your team's hard work in their first C-ranked mission. You handled it well. Second, I'm glad nothing worse happened."

"I'm starting to think there's a trend here." Shikaku commented.

"What do you mean?" Asuma asked.

"I mean that this batch of first C ranked missions for the rookies involves missing-nins."

"Well, first C ranked missions are always bound to have something unexpected happen. I've sort of expected something to happen by now…" Asuma trailed of, realizing just how the two sentences contradict. "Nevermind. But which team did you mean that also met a missing-nin during their mission?"

"Well I wouldn't necessarily call it C rank by now, since it's been classified as an A-rank. It was team 7."

"A-rank? Kakashi's?"

"They ran into Momochi Zabuza." It was the Hokage who spoke.

"The Demon of the Hidden Mist?! How?"

"That's a long story, nonetheless, they were suspended for a week from C-ranked missions as Kakashi went against protocol and allowed his team to proceed through the mission. Well you can say that they have yet to complete a proper C ranked missions but they are the first genin team to have ever went to an A-ranked."

"Hmm, I guess that's enough chitchat for now. Tomorrow, I'll be needing the official written report, Asuma. You are dismissed."

"Hai."

After Asuma left, the jounin commander turned to the Hokage. "Are you just going to it slide?"

"I know my son. Even though he once went against me, I know there's a good enough reason why he's not entirely telling the truth."

"Very well."

"How about you go home now, Shikaku? To greet your son home."

Shikaku shrugged. "He's still brooding. My presence is unwanted."

The Hokage chuckled. "You ought to fix things between the two of you by now." He smiled in his grandfatherly way he always shows to Naruto. "Peace has settled in our village, you shouldn't let a silent war go on in your own home."

"Alright then."

If Shikamaru was anything like him, he must be currently with the Akimichi heir. His son was predictable like that.

True to his thoughts, he arrived at the house empty of any presence and the silence was nearly suffocating.

.

It was at sunset when Shikamaru finally went home and he was surprised to see that the lights were on. He was used to coming home to an empty house as Shikaku always arrived late at night.

He was about to pass the hallway that separates the living room and dining room when he was met with an unexpected sight of his father sitting on the floor casually with a shogi board in front of him.

"Yo."

"Dad."

Shikaku gestured to the Shogi board. "Play shogi with me."

It was partially an order. He didn't ask since he knew his son would reject him. "Join me in a game shogi?" "No, I'm hungry." Yes, that would be the most likely scenario.

"So," Shikaku started a conversation as the game went on. "How was the mission?"

"Fine."

Taking a piece, Shikaku continued to talk, not fazed that Shikamaru was trying to cut the small talk short. "I heard you ran into a missing-nin on your way back."

"Yeah." _It was troublesome._

"It's a good thing none of the three of you were hurt badly."

"Yeah."

Shikaku mentally huffed, his son was being difficult. "Anything interesting happened other than that?"

"No, not really."

Hmm, so Asuma ordered them to keep quiet too?

Humming in thought, Shikaku took another piece from his son. "How was it being outside of the village for the first time? See anything new?"

Shikamaru paused. Now that he mentioned it, it _was_ his first time stepping outside the village.

"Fine… I guess. There's a lot of trees."

 _And I met a weird lady who uses magic that defies all logic._

Yeah, that's a Nara trait right there, doing a lazy observation of his surroundings, but Shikaku knew better. Because as lazy as they were, they easily catch on to slight differences and are quick to locate it.

Smirking, Shikaku moved a piece. "Checkmate."

Not surprised, Shikamaru just shrugged and moved to stand up.

"Oh yeah, just a minute. I'll heat up the food. I made it a while ago just before you arrived. But I guess it has gone cold now. Miso soup is no good if it's cold, right?"

Shikamaru paused. His dad made him food? His eyes narrowed in thought. _But he never cooks_.

Shikaku noticed his frown and asked, "What's wrong?"

He opened his mouth to answer but stopped just before he could make a sound and shook his head instead.

"Nothing."

When the plate of food for both of them were served, he noticed the miso soup that was served along with it and he was reminded of the peculiar woman his team met yesterday and waved goodbye earlier. After a few meters of walking, Shikamaru had looked back and saw only a clearing that was almost covered by the trees.

He had thought that Hari-san might have been a ghost to explain how her house suddenly appeared in the middle of a clearing and how she was able to use _magic_. But he waved that thought out of his head when he remembered that in the presence of ghosts, they should have felt a cold chill in the air and her house was warm like home. Spirit? No. She had told Asuma that she moves from place to place and she sounded sure that they would meet again.

He proceeded to eat while deep in his thought and found himself repeating a question in his mind that he asked the peculiar woman last night.

Will we really be able to meet again?

Unknown to him, his father observed his expression carefully.

* * *

Hari patted her small traveling bag in satisfaction with a smile on her face. To everyone else, it didn't look much, they would guess that it only contained a few set of clothes and necessities. Little did they know, it actually contained a _lot_ since she packed everything she had and that included the entire building that she made as her house. She was rather fond of it and was too lazy to ever make it with her magic all over again in a different clearing. Besides, it won't be the same if she does do it all over again.

"Well, off we go."

Humming, Hari continued on her way away from the village she had stayed near. She was going to miss the few people she had made friends with, with the majority of them being old people.

The sight of her was an odd thing. One, she was a woman. Two, she's all alone. Bandits were a regular surprise to travelers and Hari hoped that she won't be able to meet them. Though if she did, she has a few knacks up her sleeve.

"Let's see, hmm. How long am I away from the next non-ninja village?" Hari asked to no presence in particular.

The wind kissed her cheeks as it blew her hair back in slight tangles for a few seconds.

"Two days, huh." She said nonchalantly. "Better get going then."

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei~!"

Kakashi's eyes flickered towards his blonde student from his book.

"Hey~hey~! Let's get another mission outside the village. A B-rank this time!" Naruto met a fist to his head. "Itte―! Sakura-chan."

"Are you an idiot?! We are currently suspended from missions outside because we just went straight ahead against an A-rank mission! And we almost got killed from it," her mood suddenly changed as her tears dramatically spilled from her eyes. "Especially Sasuke-kun!"

"He looks fine as a duck butt to me." Naruto grumbled and was met with Sakura's fist yet again. "Ouch!"

Giving them an eye smile, "Well, as genin, you guys are not capable in taking on higher ranked missions. The mission with Tazuna was unexpected and should never repeat ever again."

"Ehh?! So we're stuck on stupid D-ranks?"

"Hn."

Even Sasuke didn't look all that much pleased.

"Only for a week. After that, we're going on a _proper_ C-rank mission. Goodness me would I ever let my cute students be the only genin to not have any completed C-ranks."

"Yatta!"

Sakura just huffed at her teammate's excited yell. She wonders what a C-rank mission really feels like without the threat of death on their necks. Hopefully there would be no evil blood lusting individuals.

* * *

 **Writer's block are both annoying and frustrating.**

 **Well, I'm sure some of you would ask why Asuma didn't just give a written report but I wouldn't be able to write a scene where Shikaku would start to be suspicious that would greatly affect Shikamaru's character development. So to cover that, every mission that has gone wrong should be verbally reported to the Hokage personally, especially if the ones who were threatened were clan heirs that are essential to the village. Sort of a protocol.**

 **And I finished my finals, it didn't go all that well… and our grades were released after a few weeks. My grades were not all that… well, too. BUT WHAT'S IMPORTANT IS THAT WE'RE ALL ALIVE AND I DIDN'T COMMIT SUICIDE HURRAH! I didn't fail any of the subjects but they were still** _ **so low**_ **ugh. I really really really think I deserve a higher grade with my calculus.**

 **Next chapter consists of Team 7 meeting Hari for a short while.**

… **and I'm having troubles with fillers, ugh.**

* * *

 **Omake:**

Shikaku mentally sweated nervously as he hurried to heat their supposed dinner quickly without making it obvious. Keep it cool, Shikaku.

Oh, how he missed when Shikamaru was just an infant and called him "dada" and followed him everywhere and copied his habits and picked up with shogi and-

Okay, stop. You're acting like Inoichi. At the thought of his close friend and former teammate, he shuddered. Man, that guy seriously was too extra for a doting father. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that Inoichi had a daughter complex. This was one of the reasons that he was thankful that Shikamaru was a boy, otherwise it could have been so troublesome.

Shaking his head off of his thoughts, he proceeded to turn off the stove and serve the food. He placed the miso soup near Shikamaru, he knew it was his favorite. The boy in turn perked up at the sight of the soup.

Shikaku's lips quirked to the side for a second.

He was too predictable.

But the smirk was wiped of his face when suddenly, there was a frown marred on Shikamaru's face.

What? Was there something wrong with the soup? Did it smell? Was the color weird? He must have cooked it wrong. Dammit, he had made sure to follow Nana-san's instructions and reread it again and again just to make sure.

He froze in his thoughts as Shikamaru looked up at him. Oh no, there really must be something wrong with the soup.

"Are you not going to eat yet? I'm getting hungry."

...oh. He was just waiting for him to take the first bite. Seems like even though Shikamaru clearly was upset with him for _months,_ he still kept in mind his etiquette. The head of the house must always be the one to take a bite first before the rest of the family. Though, to a regular Nara, proper etiquette was thrown out their windows and just do whatever they want. Seems like Shikamaru had yet to completely grow out of it.

"It's fine, you don't have to wait for me."

Raising a brow, Shikamaru just shrugged his father's odd behavior and gladly dug in.

In Shikaku's mind, he mentally sighed in relief. He was glad at the success of his first attempt at cooking.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Naruto nor Harry Potter.**

* * *

" _Hermione, do we really have to do this?"_

 _Said auburn haired girl turned to the whining red haired boy and started in a lecturing voice that Harriet found to be endearing throughout the years._

" _Of course you do. Honestly, I don't know why the school didn't make this mandatory. All of the students should have done this by the final year as part of the tests to see how-"_

" _How well we are compatible to our magic." Ron cut her off. "Yeah, I know. Blah, blah."_

 _With an obvious frown, Hermione flipped him off._

 _Ron eyed her back, as Hermione turned and continued to walk, in surprise as if he was thoroughly offended by her actions._

" _Seriously?" Ron asked rhetorically at Harriet by his side. "I will never get that woman."_

" _But you're her boyfriend." Harriet pointed out._

" _Yeah, but sometimes I don't feel like I am."_

 _Harriet snorted._

 _Ahead of them, Hermione stopped by what looks like a café and waited for them before going inside._

 _Harriet scanned the room and commented, "This is a muggle café."_

" _Here will do. They won't notice." Hermione replied as she walked to a vacant table that was conveniently at the side of the café, isolated from the row of tables and far enough to not see what the occupants would be doing as the back of the seats were high enough. Harriet thought the seats were really, really comfortable. The drinks were nice, too._

" _So, how's training been, Harriet?"_

" _So, so. I've already finished. Right now, I'm learning about runes_ _―_ _they're really interesting."_

" _That was fast."_

" _Yeah, I was surprised myself."_

 _Hermione sighed. "If only you were this consistent back in Hogwarts."_

 _Harriet just smiled, she didn't know what to reply to that._

 _Ron cut in. "Let's just get this over with."_

 _He was given a pinch to the side to which he yelped._

" _What'd you do that for?"_

" _We haven't seen Harriet for so long and you decided to be rude."_

 _Ron grumbled and muttered something under his breath before they heard the word "sorry"._

 _Harriet smiled nostalgically, she missed this. "So," she started. "How do we start?"_

 _Hermione gave instructions that Harriet was sure she memorized word by word from the textbook as always. She followed the strict instructions diligently and closed her eyes in concentration._

" _Now, after that, you'll see yourself somewhere. It might be your home, or any other place where you've been that you hold dear. If you don't see your core immediately, that's okay. You'll feel a pull and all you have to do is just follow it." Harriet heard Hermione say. It feels like it echoed in her head._

 _It took some time, but when she felt a sudden shift, she opened her eyes. She was met with a concrete wall that was just an inch away from her nose. Harriet looked around. At first glance, she thought she was in Hogwarts before she noticed that the floor and the shade on the walls were all unfamiliar._

' _Strange, I don't think I've ever been here before.'_

 _She touched the wall and remembered what Hermione told them. Furrowing her eyebrows, Harriet waited to feel any pulling_ _―_ _there wasn't. She sighed._

 _Suddenly, a noise broke the silence like there was a disturbance in the wind. She followed where it came from and was directly met with a large window where a pair of large, glaring eyes was floating. Her mind quickly processed that there was a dragon and the noise earlier was caused by the flapping of its large wings as she saw its face floating up and down._

 _She took a step back and felt her heart jump to her throat. Growling, it took a second before the dragon roared at her._

" _Harriet!"_

* * *

Hari liked this village.

Aside from the people being so nice to her, their market was livelier, and by that, she means that there are more available products like the wide variety of fruits on stands. Giving an eye smile towards a vendor, she approached his stand.

"Hello miss!" the middle-aged man gave her a grin. "You're new, aren't ya? I've been in this village since forever and I don't think I've ever seen you before."

"Yes, I am."

"Well, I'll tell you that you got a good eye! These apples of mine are from the best, and freshly picked by the man himself." He boasted.

"Well I don't doubt that." She politely replied. "I'll take five."

She was pleasantly surprised when the vendor gave her a change, she was sure she gave just the right amount to the man. "A discount since you're new." He grinned.

Not bothering to argue (because hey, she doesn't have _that_ much money), she eye smiled and thanked him. At the same moment, she heard a noise behind her.

"Hey sensei! Hurry up, we're going to leave you behind."

"Hai, hai."

"Geez, you're so slow. Don't read a book while you're walking, will ya?"

Harriet turned and was mildly surprised when she saw a Konoha genin team passing by.

 _Well they're not Shikamaru and the others so I won't bother._

She proceeded to pass by them and just as she was going to, she caught the eye of the younger ones.

"Hey, there's a weird lady." The blonde boy wearing the outrageously orange jumpsuit voiced out.

"Naruto!" A bonk to the head and Harriet heard the said boy's yelp. "That's rude!"

"Sakura-chan…"

"Humph, dobe."

"What'd you say, teme?!"

"Now, now." The jounin who was reading an orange book cut them off. "I thought you guys were in a hurry. We won't get there soon if you guys fight. And Naruto, apologize."

"But I was just being honest…"

"Exactly, so apologize."

Naruto grumbled before he released a forced out "sorry". He received another smack to the head.

"Do it properly!"

"Why're you so violent, Sakura-chan?!"

Harriet decided to cut in. "It's alright, he was just being honest. I'm not bothered, shinobi-san."

Kakashi scratched the back of his head, his orange book gone in his hands, "Well if you say so. Still I would like to apologize too, as his teacher. Guess I should drill them with manner lessons."

"It's okay." Giving one last smile, Harriet stepped away from them. "I'll take my leave now, good luck on your mission, shinobi-san." And she left.

Sakura grabbed Naruto's ear and dragged him with her. "Ouchhhh! Sakura-chan!"

"Because of you, we wasted time! Let's hurry up or the client won't be pleased."

Behind them, Sasuke didn't make a move to go with them. Instead, he stared at the direction where the strange woman left and after a few seconds, he stared at his jounin teacher's face.

Kakashi sweat dropped at his student's scrutinizing stare. It's like the young boy was thoroughly observing every nook and cranny of the Hatake's features. "Is there something you would like to say, Sasuke?"

Sasuke's eyes just narrowed and "hn"-ed in reply before he turned to follow his teammates.

"Ah, okay…?" Kakashi was still in the process of learning the Uchiha language so he wasn't sure what his 'hn' meant.

He sighed and turned his head to the side where the Uchiha was staring earlier, the woman's back had long disappeared in his vision already. He had meant to just ignore his students' banters and just let them be until Naruto mentioned something about a weird lady. Mildly curious, he had looked up from his book and was met at the sight of his students starting a ruckus and a woman with a black cloth over half of her face near them. She caught his attention not with just her appearance but because he sensed something off with her. It was the Hatake instincts kicking in but he was confused whether it was telling him that she was dangerous or not, clearly she wasn't a ninja. She looked harmless enough but years of experience told him not to underestimate her. In the end, he decided that as long as she wasn't a danger to them, he will leave her be.

Pulling out his book, he proceeded to follow his students while continuing to read where he left off earlier. Geez, they were such an energetic bunch.

* * *

-two weeks later-

"Choji, hang in there!" Troublesome, so fucking troublesome. Shikamaru just wanted rip his hair out and roar in frustration. He was starting to hate rogue ninjas.

The Nara boy pressed on the wound that was gushing out blood on his teammate's side. It was quite deep and the expression on Choji's face told him how much pain he was in and was starting to gradually pale, sweat have started to form on the side of his face and neck.

Behind him, Shikamaru could hear the clinking of kunai and shuriken along with the slashing of swords. Damn it, he's really, _really_ starting to hate rogue ninjas.

-this morning-

"Another C rank, huh."

Asuma raised a brow at the Nara heir. "Most genin would be excited rather than complaining when they are given a C ranked mission."

Shikamaru yawned and didn't bother to cover it with his hand, which was buried in his pocket. "I'm not complaining, it's just troublesome." Asuma sweat dropped as Choji just nodded at the Nara's answer while munching on potato chips.

" _Isn't that the same thing?"_

Ino skipped to Asuma. "So, so," she clasped her hands behind her and looked up at him. "What're we going to do?"

Asuma looked at Ino, a bit bewildered. What was she doing acting all cute? He mentally shook his head. "Meet me at the gates in two hours, we're escorting a family moving out of Konoha. We'll arrive at our destination at about 2 pm. The village isn't that far from the Konoha borders so pack light, it's highly possible we won't be away overnight.

"Why would they move out?" she asked.

"Apparently, the client is a woman whose husband died from a genetic illness a week ago and with no job in Konoha as she had lived as a housewife, she decided to move back to her hometown where her grandparents and relatives are, along with her two children. It's a very small village with no reputation whatsoever." Asuma replied. He turned around to the side. "Time's running, go pack up. I'll meet you at the gates and don't be late."

Ino pouted at the spot Asuma occupied just a moment ago. "Why's he in such a hurry?"

"Probably to go and find Kurenai-sensei to inform her." Shikamaru replied.

"Aww, that's so sweet! I wish Sasuke-kun would do that for me." Ino squealed as she imagined the scenario.

Choji tilted his head to the side confusion as he kept munching on his potato chips. "What's so romantic on informing a girl when he's about to go on a mission?"

Ino huffed. "You boys wouldn't understand."

"Me too?"

"Especially you, Shikamaru! I'd feel sorry for your future girlfriend, if you'd ever have one."

Shikamaru picked at his ear. "That would be too troublesome."

"Yes, that! That's what I'm talking about! No girl would date you with that attitude."

"I'll deal with it when the time comes." He turned and started to walk away, to go to the clan compound and pack up his things for the mission.

"Hey, wait!"

.

When Shikamaru arrived at the gates, all of his teammates including his sensei were already there. There was a young woman standing with a baby in her arms which was put in a sling that goes over her shoulder and a young boy that reached only to her waist by her side clutching her plain yukata. That must be the family they would be escorting. The mother looked young, thought the Nara in surprise. So she was widowed at a young age.

Ino was stomping her foot. "You're late."

"No, I'm not." Shikamaru countered. "I'm just on time."

Asuma laid a hand on Ino's shoulder to calm her down. "He's right, Ino. He just arrived at the exact time."

"Why couldn't he have gotten here earlier?" Ino protested. "We've been waiting for minutes!"

"You make it sound like you've been waiting for hours."

"Because that's what it felt like standing here!"

"Enough," Asuma said in a firm voice. "We have our client with us, act professionally."

"Yes, sensei." "Yes, sensei."

Asuma mentally shook his head. They're still kids.

"Shikamaru, this is our client, Emi-san. And this is her son, Ichigo-kun, and her baby daughter, Airi-chan. Emi-san, this is one of my student in the team, Shikamaru Nara."

Emi gave him a polite smile. "I'll be in your care."

.

Escorting Emi and her children had gone well, save for some idiotic bandits attacking here and there. Before Shikamaru knew it, they arrived at a relatively small village.

"Hey, isn't that Emi-neesan?"

"Emi-neesan!"

"You're here!"

Shikamaru kneeled down to let Ichigo get down from his back. The boy had gotten tired midway from walking so he let him piggyback on him. Honestly, he wouldn't have done if it wasn't for Ino's expecting look and Asuma's piercing stare.

The boy shyly looked at the ground as he let out a soft 'thank you'. Shikamaru grunted in reply.

The children that had gone to their group caused some adults peering curiously as to what was the commotion about. Soon enough, some adults, middle aged and elderlies alike, came near to welcome their client back.

The team just stood back as to let the villagers have their space. Ino observed nonchalantly. "Emi-san sure is loved, huh?" Not surprising since she looks like it. Close to the side, the children had their own time with Ichigo.

"Ichigo-kun, it's been a long time. Do you remember me?"

Ichigo nodded, a wide smile on his face. "I remember all of you."

"That's good! It's so great that you're back. We can play together again."

A tiny meow suddenly cut off their chattering. One of the kids, a girl named Ami picked up the kitten at her side. "Oh that's right. Sorry, Haru-chan, didn't mean to forget you. Ichigo-kun, this is Haru-chan. Isn't she cute? We found her behind jii-san's house yesterday. You can touch her if you'd like." Ichigo's face brightened at the sight of the kitten and eagerly petted it.

Shikamaru observed this and his brows rose up at the sight of the small kitten. It had a peculiar color. For one, its fur was clearly light blue and gray. The kitten meowed at the children's touches and jumped down from the little girl's arms, probably overwhelmed by the attention. It shook itself and licked its front paw, until it made eye contact with him.

Shikamaru almost jumped when its piercing blue eyes stared at him. It continued to do so until it promptly sauntered over to him and circled at his feet then sat on his left shoe and 'meow'-ed .

"No," Shikamaru deadpanned. It meow-ed again and rubbed itself on his leg. Now that he had a closer look, he noticed that it had tiny black dots all over its back and another one at the tip of its tail.

"Aww," Ino gushed. "It's so cute!"

"Get it off."

"Don't be mean, it obviously likes you." Ino pouted. "I wish it had gone to me."

"Asuma-san," Emi neared them. "Thank you for escorting us. Would you like a short snack before you journey back to Konoha?"

"No, it is best that we will be taking our leave now so we may arrive home before the day ends."

Emi nodded in understanding. "Very well, I hope you will have a safe journey."

Both of them said their goodbyes and the genin, mainly Choji and Ino, waved goodbye at Emi and Ichigo who had come to her side before turning to walk away. Shikamaru didn't bother taking out his hands from his pockets where they are hidden and just shook off the kitten sitting on his foot and turned to follow his teammates.

Ino pumped her fist in the air. "Alright! C rank mission done."

Choji munched on his potato chips. "You're so weird today, Ino."

She gave him a pointed stare. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he's not wrong," Asuma decided to join in the conversation as he lit up a smoke. "Is there something going on, Ino?"

Earlier this morning she had been acting extra cute to everyone including them, she had been acting more considerate to the wellbeing of their clients when she didn't even need to unless absolutely necessary like if the said clients were physically weak or they had a sickness, she was more energetic and voiced out her thoughts more often with a cheery attitude. All these observations were summed up by Shikamaru as he had been raising his eyebrows in surprise and confusion a few times this happened through their journey.

"Nothing."

She could have been more convincing if she didn't cross her arms and pouted as she faced away to the side.

Shikamaru concluded that it was something related to her father. She had acted the same way before when they were children when the older man hadn't bought the gift she wanted for her birthday, she was spoiled like that. In a way, she was throwing a tantrum.

Asuma suddenly stopped and didn't move. Shikamaru and the rest noticed this. "Asuma-sensei?"

"We're being followed,"

The genins immediately tensed and was on their guard until the jonin added, "―by this little fella." He pointed to the ground behind Shikamaru.

They all looked down as they saw the strange cat from earlier sitting behind them. It yawned and walked towards them before stopping at Shikamaru's feet and rubbed itself on his pants.

"Aww," Ino gushed. "She really likes you, Shikamaru. So cute."

Shikamaru didn't want to admit it but his heart softened at the thought that the kitten liked him so much that it was willing to go outside the village and follow them. But he wasn't a cat person.

"You can have it." Shikamaru grumbled.

"But she likes you better."

Shikamaru just grunted and faced their jonin teacher.

"Asuma-sensei, should we return it to the village?"

Asuma scratched the side of his face in thought.

"Hmm, it would take too much time and I think even if we return it, it doesn't have an owner. One of the kids mentioned that it was a stray. And it will just follow Shikamaru again." Asuma smirked at the young Nara heir. "Guess you'll be bringing it along."

Shikamaru sighed loudly. "Troublesome." He crouched down and picked the kitten up. From what he remembered, the kitten was female and was called 'Haru'. He scratched its ears and Haru purred.

"Well, that's that. Let's go."

They continued to walk away and the peace didn't last long before Haru suddenly perked its ears up and shot up from Shikamaru's comfortable arms.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

From there, everything seemed to go too fast and they dispersed when a kunai came flying down at them.

 _Ambush?_

"Well, well. How unlucky of you~"

 _Fuck_.

* * *

"Useless, the lot of you!" a certain redhead stomped angrily like a child throwing a tantrum. "It's been a year and still you can't find her!"

"Forgive us, Mr. Weasley."

Suddenly, Ron paused and turned to the man who spoke. He asked, barely in a whisper, "What did you say?"

Not hesitating, the man repeated.

The redhead straightened, fixing his crumpled suit that he had worn to attend a special party earlier for negotiations with other wizards who most of them consisted of previous followers of Voldemort. He took a deep breath as if to compose himself. He placed a smile on his face, though it obviously looked fake.

"Come here." Ron motioned to the man who had addressed him with his family name.

"Sir?"

"Just come here." Ron sent a reassuring smile to the man and the latter, oblivious, neared him. He didn't notice the uncomfortable fidgeting of his companions behind him as they made eye contact.

Ron continued to smile at the unsuspecting man and looped his right arm to the man's neck as if they were old buddies.

"Now John, was it?" He spoke in a much lower voice than he had earlier when he practically shouted at them.

"Ian, sir."

Ron didn't bother correcting himself and seemed to ignore what "Ian" had said. "I know you know me well," he started. "I mean, everyone _knows_ me! Ronald Weasley, one of the Golden Trio heroes who helped the famous girl-who-lived bring down the big bad Voldemort." Chuckling, he continued. "Those were real good days. But now, I'm famous for another thing. I'm the man who discovered something so wondrous that's lost in lost history of magic. In other words, what do you call it again? Ah, _yes._ Myth. The myth of magic. I intend to introduce that myth to the whole world but alas, Harriet Potter is the only key to do it, and she won't hand it over. That's why I have _you_ , my friend. To help me."

The man fidgeted under Ron's hold. Sensing something wrong. Is it just him or did Ron's hold on his neck seemed to get tighter.

"Oh, I got sidetracked for a moment there." Ron laughed. "My point is, I'm famous. And my goal is well known, of course. You know me, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Weasley."

"Ah, that. That's the point of this conversation. You see, buddy." He removed his arm on the man's neck and lightly tapped his back. The man seemed confused as he stared at Ron who continued to smile at him. Is it just him or did his smile look sinister?

Suddenly the man, Ian, didn't feel so good. He stumbled back and he was hit by a sudden pain from his insides.

"AHH!" He kneeled down on the floor and looked at his hands. It looked like something was bubbling under his skin before, to his horror, it popped. "AHHHH!" He felt the bubbling crawling all over skin before it made popping noises, it was sickening. He felt it go to his neck, to his face―

"PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP!" He screamed again. Blood was soaking his clothes. The other men who had stayed far back cringed. One of them couldn't handle the sight and barfed to the side. The screaming continued to echo in the room for a long while.

Ron was the only one who seemed unaffected, even though some of the blood had splattered on his suit. His smile gone and replaced with that of one that showed no emotion.

"I don't like to be called a Weasley."

* * *

 **I've been absent for sooooo long TT I'm really sorry guys huhu. I really didn't expect that my family and I would go on full on vacation mode hopping from place to place, literally island hopping in the country. I only expected at least 3 to 5 days away from home so I left my laptop home. We were away for like a month. Then I got sick lately and I wasn't really in the mood on updating the story.**

 **Another thing, sorry for any errors on my grammar, my english isn't my first nor my second language. It's actually my third.**

 **Not much of female Harry here but I'll tell you that in at least two chapters later, Shikaku and Harriet or Hari will finally meet yeyy. As for the weird kitty, she'll play a bigger role soon.**

 **Oh and for some of the assholes out there basically harassing me through my story, fuck you.**

 **Side note: I'm working on a Naruto x One Piece crossover oneshot for a while. It's a Sakura x Marco fic cuz Sakura is actually badass but ppl discriminate her just because she used to be a weak and useless fangirl as a genin when in fact, she could clearly surpass Tsunade. Then there's Marco cuz I love pineapple heads. So any of you guys a big fan of Sakura and Marco, you can check it out when I post it. I'm still halfway there to finishing it up. It's quite a long oneshot. I'll announce it here when I have uploaded it or just follow my account.**

* * *

 **Omake:**

Sasuke was a bit...intrigued? He couldn't place a word on it. Seeing the masked lady had reminded him of his equally masked sensei.

He had remembered one of Naruto's antiques on dragging him along to stalk their jounin sensei and attempt on seeing him without a mask.

Did she have an engorged lips?

Did she have buck teeth?

Was her nose deformed?

Sasuke didn't know and while he was deep in his thoughts, he studied Kakashi's face for any odd shapes unaware of the other's squirming but for all he knows, Kakashi could be using a jutsu to hide it. He decided to left it at that. The woman must've had a deformed face that she didn't want anyone to see and as a gentleman of the Uchiha, he decided to give her his respect quietly. After all, everyone had hardships they couldn't face.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Naruto and Harry Potter and all rights go to the rightful authors. This is merely a work of "what-if" fiction derived from my imagination.**

* * *

Everything happened all too fast for Shikamaru.

Out of all of them, it was Asuma-sensei who acted first and whipped out a kunai then proceeded to stand in front of the genin. He was a jonin who had years of training and experience after all, and he was their teacher— which makes them his responsibility and their life rests on his hands.

"Well, well, well," one of the rogue ninjas drawled. In Shikamaru's arms, the kitten hissed. "Look what we have here, some Konoha babies who have the unlucky pleasure of running into us."

There were five of them, Shikamaru silently counted in his head.

 _Too many._ And other than being outnumbered, there were skills to be considered too. By the killing intent their enemy is releasing, they're most likely at chunin to borderline jonin level. Shikamaru quickly scanned the area for anything that could help them if they were to escape. They were in an open area considering they took the civilian road and opted to walk back home, but the road was also surrounded by various trees. If they were lucky, they could confuse the enemy when escaping and plant traps.

"Shikamaru," Asuma called. "I trust that you know what to do. You're in charge while I handle some of them." The rogue ninjas sneered at his words.

Eyes hardening as different plans of every possible scenarios formulated in his head, Shikamaru nodded. "Yes." He placed the small kitten in his pocket hidden inside his grey jacket, securing it so the animal won't accidentally fall off from all the running that would come. His posture shifted in readiness and his teammates copied him.

In a flurry of movements, Asuma had launched shurikens at the rogue ninjas. They automatically blocked it with their kunais but they were then caught off guard by the sudden smoke screen.

"Now!" At Asuma's signal, Shikamaru left quickly along with Choji and Ino.

While running, Ino asked said worriedly, "What about sensei?"

"He'll be fine." Shikamaru answered.

Because unlike last incident, Asuma was at his full strength this time. Despite their teacher's laid-back attitude, he's a highly talented jonin of Konoha. Shikaku even praised the Sarutobi for being a formidable shinobi of Konoha.

"Ino," Shikamaru called. "Did you bring your ninja wire?"

"Yes." Ino replied as she fished it out.

"Good. Let's set up some traps. We won't be able to escape by only running. We're too slow, and they'll be using the trees to catch up to us."

Ino and Choji moved swiftly as they followed every word of Shikamaru's instructions. After setting up in less than a minute, they moved quickly in hiding their selves secretly. They hid separately as per the Nara's advice and made a clone. They didn't have to wait long when two of the rogue nins came and tipped off the trap. The bomb went off but they were able to shield themselves. Through the smoke made by the explosion, the pursuers saw three hurried movements going east and the two rogue nins went after them.

The genin team waited until they were gone and Shikamaru signaled the clear. Ino and Choji came out and breathed out sighs of relief as the rogue nins were gone.

They were about to head off on their way when the two rogue nins from earlier dropped right in front of them, and they were both smirking.

"Tut, tut. You thought that would fool us? That was a very predictable move, even for a genin. I had expected more considering there's a Nara in your team." Rogue Nin One spoke. "Too easy, I must say."

"Well, sorry for letting you down." The Nara boy answered with an uneasy smirk on his own face.

"What are we going to do, Shikamaru?" The girl answered, and it was clear there was fear in her eyes. It made the rogue nin who spoke earlier get excited for blood to spill.

"Oh," the rogue nin answered. "You don't have to do anything!" his voice went up as he swiftly threw a kunai straight to her head. The fatso genin reacted by pulling the girl out of the way but stumbled and got hit instead. And the rogue nins were surprised when he dispersed in a small cloud of smoke.

"A clone?!"

"Heh," the Nara boy, who the rogue nins suspected by now is also a clone too, taunted them. "Too easy, huh?"

The other rogue nin growled in anger, and proceeded to lash out with his tanto to disperse the clones.

.

He was running out of breath. Shikamaru knew there's not much time before his body would protest. He had the least stamina in the group, he already knew that fact as Asuma liked to point it out during their daily team training.

By now, their pursuers would have found out that they were fooled and will catch up to them soon with blood boiling. Considering the factor in which soon, Shikamaru would have to stop from running so as not to wear out his physical body, he will have to stop and let his teammates go on.

 _But that would be impossible._

The young Nara held back a resigned sigh. Considering his teammates personalities, they would undoubtedly disagree with him and most likely drag him when it comes to it or they would stay back with him.

So that plan is crossed out and crumpled and thrown from his mind.

The best course of action would be…

.

Shikamaru tensed when the two rogue nins appeared in front of him, his own kunai already drawn as a defense in front of him. Earlier, he had let Haru the kitten off from his person so it wouldn't get hurt in the coming confrontation. It was up to the animal to stay hidden under some bush or walk away from the fight which is the better option, in Shikamaru's opinion.

Rogue Nin One from earlier spoke again. Seriously, he was too talkative. "You kids are wasting our time, I'm getting bored already. All you do is run, run, run. Though, I wouldn't expect much from a bunch of genin of Konoha softies."

Shikamaru smirked for show. "I'm not running now, am I?"

"Clearly, I can see that." Rogue Nin One eyed the footprints— _false footprint,_ Shikamaru said internally— behind the only genin in the area. "They left you behind, huh. Poor you." He nodded at Rogue Nin Two as a sign for the latter to pursue the rest of Shikamaru's team.

"I won't let you!" acting fast, Shikamaru made the sign for his shadow imitation technique and trapped Rogue Nin Two who let out a shocked noise. He couldn't actually make the enemy move as he still had a problem in holding his shadow in the enemy's when he moves, but freezing them would have to do.

 _Now!_

"You-!" Before Rogue Nin One could finish his outrage, he was met with a barreling Akimichi in the face.

Ino landed in front of Shikamaru and proceeded to use her mind transfer jutsu on Rogue Nin Two. Shikamaru retracted his shadow and caught Ino's body before her head could land hard on the ground. He placed her body gently and proceeded to speed towards Rogue Nin Two who Ino had possessed, she had thrown away the tanto it was previously holding and was awaiting Shikamaru's killing blow with determination. In no time he was at less than a foot away and his arm was already swinging.

"Ino, out now!"

Rogue Nin Two did not have a chance of recovery, not even a blink when it was about to start to sink in his mind that the young Nara was already upon him before he was already choking in his own blood and gurgling. Barely five seconds, that was all it took before the life faded from his eyes.

He stared at the corpse for a moment, at its wide, unmoving, empty eyes. Shikamaru could feel something deep in him he couldn't describe, he didn't know what it was. Probably because it was drowned out from the heart pounding rush of adrenaline, but he won't dwell on it now. The threatening situation they were in wasn't over yet.

 _One down. Now for the other one_ —

Shikamaru's thoughts were cut off by a pained yell from an all too familiar voice.

"Choji!" he could hear Ino scream in her high-pitched voice.

He turned to look, and it was a sight that he knew that if ever he was going to survive from this mission, it will forever stick on his mind, haunting him for his mistake that he will never be able to correct.

The remaining rogue nin's back was facing them, but that didn't fail to obstruct the horrifying view of their teammate being impaled with a sword. Choji was already lying on the ground and let out another scream when the rogue nin deepened and twisted his weapon for his sick satisfaction.

Shikamaru didn't know what to do, his feet were glued to its place. He couldn't even hear Choji's scream because it felt like a sharp noise was next to his ears— a deafening silence.

Ino expected Shikamaru to be charging straight by now so when a second passed and she didn't hear nor see him sprinting, she looked his way to see he was frozen in place. "Shika- tch!" there was no point. If she learned anything from her training as a member of her clan, one would be knowing when a person dissociates themselves as a freeze response during threatening situations when she sees one.

Acting fast, she swiftly pulled out a kunai and threw it to the enemy. The rogue nin noticed quickly and responded by pulling out his sword to block the attack. He then calmly walked to the remaining genin, leaving Choji to bleed out as he wouldn't be able to do much anyway. Despite his calm demeanor in his approach, his blood was boiling inside. He was too pissed off at these genin now that his partner was killed, might as well make them suffer a long, agonizing death. It was why he didn't immediately finish off the Akimichi. To make him suffer in pain.

Ino's heart leaped as the enemy was nearing. She gripped another kunai to defend herself, but her teammate beside her was still frozen in place, still staring at where Choji was lying down bleeding to death.

"Shikamaru snap out of it!"

The harsh slap to the face that came with it finally did the trick that had Shikamaru snap his head to the side by the force. He blinked, then caught himself and fixed his posture in a ready stance. Gripping tightly the kunai in his hand that was still dripping blood from the other rogue nin earlier, he ignored the stinging pain on his face.

Another step closer to the genin and the rogue nin would have swung his sword by then but stopped to brace himself when he felt a strong presence coming fast. The strong killing intent that came with it made it hard to ignore.

Shikamaru heard the clinking of metal before it registered in his mind that he was currently looking at Asuma's back.

"Asuma-sensei!"

"Ino! Shikamaru! Get to Choji!" their sensei commanded. Both genin nodded and ran to where Choji lay. When they got there and kneeled on both of Choji's side, they could see him with ragged breathing and his hand on top of his bleeding stomach. He couldn't press on it because he felt too weak with the blood loss. It was clear by his pale and sweating form.

"Choji, hang in there!"

Troublesome, so fucking troublesome. Why do they keep on getting C ranked missions that happens to have them accidentally confront rogue ninjas? God, he just wanted to rip his hair out and roar in frustration at their nonexistent luck. He removed Choji's hand on his wound to replace it with his so as to put pressure on the wound, but he didn't know if it would help because the wound was too deep.

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck_.

Choji was dying.

He can't have that. He can't.

Choji was his first friend, his best friend, his most trusted person, the only friend that truly understood him. Ino would equally take it hard. She'd cry nonstop. Shikamaru won't be able to look directly at Chouza in the eye ever again.

Fuck, he doesn't know what to do if Choji died. He doesn't know what to do other than continuing to press on the wound. He doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know. So much for being a Nara, so much for being even an _heir_.

Shikamaru thought of his father, and what he would say at his mistake.

 _I'm such a failure._

He squeezed his eyes shut, desperately hoping for a miracle to happen. Just anything, _please_.

A meow sounded.

 _What?_

He heard it again and he looked up, just noticing a shadow over them.

Hari had a grim look, her eyes showed that as it roamed over all of them then to the ongoing fight not far from them. She kneeled down with them, next to Ino and it was only by then that Shikamaru noticed the weird kitten from earlier in her arms. Gently, she put down the said animal on the ground to her side.

"Let me." She said and Shikamaru removed his hands, he ignored the blood on them.

Hari put her right hand on the wound, her eyes serious and that prompted them to not question her. At first, Shikamaru thought she wasn't doing anything until he heard her mumble. Her voice was too faint to hear what she was saying exactly. She removed her hand and Ino beside her gasped. Shikamaru was sure he was gaping too.

The wound was gone, in place of it was unmarred skin. Like there was never a wound on it before but the blood soaking Choji's clothes were evident.

"How…" he started, but he wasn't sure which words to say.

"I only simply closed his wound, there is still a possibility of infection in it but I would need my potions for it." She eye-smiled at them and placed the kitten in her arms again. "My potions are all in my place. I didn't exactly know that I'd need it when this little guy took me here. I suggest that we go to my place to use my potion, and to have you rest. You guys look tired."

They didn't notice that Asuma was done, who was surprised at Hari's presence but didn't attack.

"Hari-san." Hari nodded back at Asuma as she stood up. She proceeded to explain to Asuma of Choji's condition, and that they would need to go to her place for the potion. Asuma sighed in relief.

"We owe you yet again, Hari-san."

She waved it off. "It's no problem. Now, hold on to me." Asuma was confused but did so on her shoulder. "Make sure you hold onto Choji, Ino."

Ino, having an idea of what Hari was about to do, didn't question and did what she was told.

"Shikamaru?" said boy snapped back to reality. His mind hadn't exactly registered that the danger was gone now, and that Choji was safe and far from a threatening situation.

The words were stuck in his throat for a moment, before he voiced out, "He'll live?" he hadn't meant to say it in a shaky voice but he couldn't exactly fix it now.

Hari smiled at him, and Shikamaru felt the rush leave him as reassurance replaced it. She nodded.

Oh.

Oh, thank _god_.

He couldn't stop the tears that was building up and grabbed on to her with his head bowed.

Choji will _live._

* * *

Years from now, Shikamaru would look back to this very moment. This unforgettable moment that made him want to change to what he was now. His debt to Hari would last a lifetime because of this, and it won't be the only one.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **To cut things short, I wasn't able to update for a long time because a LOT of things happened. Majority of it is family matter. I won't go into details because it's private and takes long to put in words. Regardless, I'm not abandoning this story. Never ever unless I die of unfortunate circumstances.**

 **And to those who are still waiting for my one-shot fic of OP & Naruto crossover featuring Sakura, I finished it a long time ago but I think I'm going to start over. I don't like the plot anymore :' Marco was too OOC for me so I decided that I'm going to redo it. Hope you'll wait a little longer.**


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